After re-reading this update, it seems that people who "donate" can receive digital rewards... However, that isn't at all clear on your website, so you should definitely update your website to reflect that.

Well, these things happen, and they've happened to games that have received far more funds than EoE. One thing is clear, it seems that EoE games could use more funding. I think you guys should consider either launching an IndieGogo campaign, or a second Kickstarter campaign... Perhaps you could do what the Quest of Infamy team is doing and have a KS for a hint book / strategy guide.

Of course, if you do go this route, you should not offer any of the higher limited tiers from the original KS again... Just offer the digital copy, the soundtrack, and maybe an unsigned physical copy. While you probably wouldn't raise a lot of money, you'd probably get something that you could put towards paying your new programmer / whatever other help you might need to complete the game.

To me, that seems to be a far better option than having most of the team work have to scrounge up funds working day jobs... Getting more funds might mean getting the game finished faster so I don't think many of us original KS backers would object to it. At the very least, you should have an option for people to pre-order a copy of the game on your website. While you have the option to "donate" on your website, you'd probably raise more if you offered people who missed out on the KS a chance to pre-order the game.

I appreciate the honesty in this update, but it is still lacking evidence of progress. I'm sure the project is in good hands, but even additional teases of art or new enemies, animation or sound bytes would be helpful.

Chiming in: yeah, let us not compare EoE to Rainfall. EoE has shown us a video of the gameplay which is much more than Rainfall has shown us. While the updates have grown scarce as of late, I think the milestone that they have made shows promise. EoE has come a long way from when they first started.

@R Wilson: E.o.E. Games is far from the first KS-funded game developer to seek additional crowd funds post-Kickstarter campaign. Even Double Fine allowed donations well beyond the Kickstarter's end date for Broken Age. That the Kickstarter ended does not negate the potential need for further funds, nor should it mean an end to seeking funds for the project.

Again, the Broken Age conundrum. Double Fine asked for a few hundred thousand to fund their game and ended up with millions of dollars by the end. Yet the way development unfolded, they continued to allow donations well after the Kickstarter concluded and even had to cut the game into two halves so that profits made from selling the first act could fund finishing development of the second act. It's just the way that crowd funding works. That Echoes of Eternea made four times its goal amount does not mean that the team behind the game wouldn't benefit from more. (And frankly, $40,000 is still a very, very small amount of money when it comes to developing a game of significant length and intricacy.)

The game will absolutely come out, but remember that this is a staff of people all with other, sometimes primary jobs. The game's progress is there for any and all to see, and the developers (particularly the project manager Ryan) have been readily available from day one. As the team reconstitutes, I'm sure they will look to figure out ways to publicly identify milestones and post-mortem them to the backers.

@E.o.E.Games
I appreciate the reply. Campaign would have been a better choice of words. I was referring to the www.eoegames.com vehicle. I came across it some time back. I was disheartened to see that while KS provided 4x the goal there was another campaign seeking additional funding.

I am looking at this as a business situation:
The initial claim, of good faith, was a product could be delivered for 10K. Graciously the project was given 40K (4x the ask.) The project is well past the deadline for delivery and there is nothing to show, in terms of an alpha or beta, in the sponsors hands. Additionally, there is another campaign/vehicle to collect more money for the same product which doesn't exist despite 4x the ask in initial funding. Huge red flag.

However, I sincerely hope you prove me wrong, provide a great game the exceeds expectations, and encourages the industry to look at the quality of the game over next-gen graphics.

I really want this to succeed.

I would feel better if a monthly goal list was provided and status of said goals were tracked. Not only would it restore my faith, but if its not being done now, it would help keep the team on track.

@R Wilson
The delay definitely is not all on our past programmer. Almost all aspects of development have taken longer than we planned. We wanted to use this update to be open to the backers about our troubles. Also, we purposefully left him anonymous so as not to make his problems public.

We are doing exactly as your recommended right now actually. With bringing on this new programmer, we are reorganizing and re-evaluating every aspect of development in order to stream line the process of production for him and the remaining team.

Also, you mentioned running campaigns outside of Kickstarter? Would you mind explaining what you meant by that?

I think it shows a real lack of character on the remaining staff to put this delay solely on a single programmer and to make his/her financial issues public knowledge. I have been questioning your management of money for some time. The consistent re-work, talk of expanded platforms, running other campaigns outside of KS -- all red flags. So I encourage you all to show some much needed integrity, own your portion of the mistake(s), and make it right. I would recommend you start by hiring a project manager, or find a volunteer, and setting some milestones for deliverables.

@TheChosenOne
Absolutely not. We have already made plans to afford this new programmer, but it is requiring some team members to spend less time on production. We are already waaaay too far along to just cancel production like Rainfall did, so please don't compare us to that project :)